Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-07-23
DAILY HERALD.
CHARMS OF EUROPEAN WOMEN
what Gives Them Grace and At
tractivencss.
From the London Times.l

From the London Times
The general attractiveness of the
Japanese fair sex, as to which there
are hardly two opinions, is due in
more than ordinary degree to the be-
coming character of their raiment and
the grace with which it is worn. Few
Japanese women possess physical
beauty of those lofty types which are
the western ideals. They are for the
most part comely and engaging, rather
than handsome. Dark eyes and hair,
penciled eyebrows, well set necks and
remarkably good teeth, together with
bright, artless manners and winning
smile, serve to draw attention from
irregularities of feature which will
hardly bear critical scrutiny.
1t is the combination OF physique,
grace, dress and manner that makes
mp the agreeable sum total of the
average young girl or matron. AS well
in the brisk-bronze-cheeked serving
maid, with her homely but graceful
garments, her eyes of kindness, and
her pretty ways, as in the refined little
lady of high degree, pale skinned and
gentle hammered, in her rich exquis-
itely neat dress of ceremony, the
visitor and the resident alike recognize
most pleasing specimens of woman
kind. But they also recognize how
much of the general outward effect is
really due to the picturesqueness of
the national garb. If confirmation of
this be needed, it is sufficient to be-
hold the same woman clad in foreign
clothes, or to mix in any gathering
where the two styles can be seen to-
gether. Making full allowances for
the disadvantages that, in the nature
of things, must tell against costume
TO which the wearer is wholly unac-
customed, no one who has eyes to see
can then hesitate as to the artistic
superiority OF the japanese apparel.
And, beside its esthetic merits, the
latter has other points of excellence.
1t is healthy, in that it involves no
distortion or compression of the kinds
imposed by western fashions. If the
skirts Of well-dressed lady's robes
are gathered somewhat too tightly for
her active locomotion-perhaps the
only fault that can be found with her
whole attire-no other part of her
frame is subjected TO unnatural con-
straint while the massive girdle gives
warmth and protection to the chief
bodily organs. Secondly, it is very
much less expensive than the costly
anc Irrational habilaments of the West.
Jewelry, moreover. forms no part of
il in any station in life. Again, its
fashions are abiding. While a Jap
anese belle, like all of her sex, de-
lights in having good clothes and
pleEty OF them, she has, or at least
has hitherto had, the comfortable
assurance that her ever-increasing
wardrobe is in no danger of being at
any moment thrown out OF date by
the caprices of court milliners and
fashion mongers.
Lastly, it is admirably suited to the
beautiful fabrics of the country. 1t is
no wonder, then, that the grevious
change now in progress is loudly de-
precated by nearly all onlookers.
With most OF us the first feeling is one
Of wrathful Indignation. That the
japanese, who are nothing if not
artistic, should set themselves in this
cold-blooded way to blot out one of
the most delightful and picturesque
features of the whole national lie is
regarded rs incredible, unnatural and
cxasperating.
1t is vandalism it is sacrilege it is
senseless mimicry; it is everything
that is bad. That is the general
lament, and there seems to be Il good
deal in its favor. But, on the other
hand, it is possible that sacrifice so
deplorable and so palpable to Japan's
loss rests on no stronger or higher
ground than giddy aspiration to ape,
even to this bitter end, the pomps and
fashions of the west? 1t is habit in
certain quarters to speak of the Jap
anese as nation of children, always
thirsting after some new toy. Yet
that character will hardly be assigned
to Count Ito, even by the most reck-
less of censors. And Count Ito it
undoubtedly was who advised the
Empress to inaugurate the new move
me,1t.